...Hallyu began roughly 12 years ago when the rest of Asia discovered Korean soap operas. One of the breakthrough dramas was a series 'Winter Sonata' starring Choi Ji-woo & Bae Young-Joon. After that, more Korean dramas saw their way to foreign shores and Korean films and music started to follow suit. Korean marketing people started to see a Korea-centric trend. They dubbed this flow "The Korean Wave" or Hallyu....

15.8.12

Top K-pop acts TVXQ! and Kim Hyun-joong have achieved gold status in Japan after selling more than 100,000 copies their latest singles.

TVXQ!’s 11th Japanese single “Android” and Kim Hyun-joong’s second Japanese single “HEAT” have both achieved the gold status after moving a big number of over 100,000 albums, according to the Recording Industry Association of Japan's (RIAJ) July report.

The success of both records was predictable, as they easily moved over 100,000 records in just a week after the album’s release.

TVXQ!'s latest single "Android" scored the No. 1 spot on Oricon's weekly singles chart after moving 152,000 copies since going on sale on July 11.

Kim has also registered high sales of around 183,000 copies in just a week after the album went on sale on July 4, Oricon's website showed.

Meanwhile, TVXQ!'s DVD titled "TOHOSHINKI LIVE TOUR 2012 TONE" has also reached gold status according to RIAJ’s July report.
The DVD was released in Japan on July 25 and topped Oricon's weekly DVD chart after selling over 151,000 copies during the first week of sales.

TVXQ! and Kim Hyun-joong are handful of artists that are receiving overwhelming popularity in both Korea and Japan.

The two stars have been breaking numerous records which have been built by themselves or former Hallyu stars on Oricon’s chart.